The third wife, Nancy, rotated her upper body from side to side with each change of leading foot. It struck him that it looked like she was giving a full display of her assets to a cheering crowd she imagined on each side of the street. There was no crowd on a blustery February day to appreciate her performance.
Tony and Wade had each filled a notebook with the information. Tony looked at Wade. “What do you think? Who’s his widow?”
Wade’s deep-blue eyes were somber as he tilted his face down and looked at him over the top of his sunglasses. “Honestly?”
Tony nodded, deeply curious if the deputy had the same opinion as his own.
“I don’t think any of them are legally married to him.” Wade turned his gaze to the women. “I think he deluded them into believing him. If there was a private exchange of vows, I’d say it was officiated by one of his friends.”
“Sadly, I agree. We’ll know more after the marriage certificates are presented. I’ll give Ruth Ann the job of tracking down the paperwork. She’ll love it.” Tony sighed. “On the other hand, if none of them is married to the man, at least she won’t be inheriting his unpaid bills. If any company was dumb enough to give him a card, I’d guess he’s got massive credit-card debt.”
“Speaking of credit cards.” Wade looked back at Tony. “He did have three different cards in his wallet, all from the same company but different banks. I was surprised when Mike and I did the inventory. I didn’t think anyone would extend him credit. Not with his past history.”
“Let’s see if we can find a co-signer, or if the account is in a different name and he was given a card by the owner. Maybe one or more of his wives.” Tony felt a flash of hope. “If he ran up big numbers on a credit card, and especially if he was buying things for another wife, that could be some serious motivation for someone to dispose of him.”
Wade nodded. “If he’s in debt to a loan shark, it could have been serious, too. Maybe someone tracked him down and scared him, and he dived into the hole, committing suicide to get away from them.”
“Killing wouldn’t clear up a debt unless there was insurance. A broken man can pay. A dead one, not so much.” For some reason, Tony didn’t believe money was the issue.
Theo looked at Nina. Her friend’s beautiful green eyes looked glassy and bloodshot. Clearly shock and fatigue were taking a toll on her.
Nina released a half sob and collapsed onto a chair near Theo’s cutting table. Nina was taking the day off from teaching. “My house is in shambles. Not only from the flood and Daniel’s death, but the steady parade of wives coming out to my house to ‘see where my love died’ is creepy and annoying.”
Theo couldn’t imagine dealing with the wives. The scenario sounded like something from a really bad daytime television melodrama. “What’s happening inside your house? Is it dry now?”
“The kitchen is useless. The refrigerator is in the garage. The stove’s in the den. The washer and dryer don’t work for some weird reason but can’t be fixed or replaced until the insurance company says so. The same with the kitchen flooring, which had to be ripped up to reach the water soaking the plywood underneath it.” Nina tried a smile but it failed. “I don’t mind not cooking, but those kids of mine need access to food twenty-four hours a day. The insurance company will pay for our motel a bit longer, but none of us is enjoying the stay at the Riverview Motel.”
Theo leaned closer, almost afraid to ask. “And since you don’t actually own your house?”
“The insurance, you mean?” Nina guessed.
Theo nodded.
Nina did smile then, a huge sunny smile accompanied with a soft laugh. “You know my dad. He’s a hardheaded, tightfisted old coot. He insured the house to the maximum with replacement values, not original cost, for everything. I pay him back for the premiums on the house insurance and then I also pay rental insurance because he told me I had to.”
“Really?” Theo had never thought of the details of the unusual house ownership arrangement.
“Oh, yeah, my dad’s insurance agent thinks I’m a gold mine. Who else but my family has to pay twice on the same house?”
Theo had known Lead Ledbetter since her childhood. Diligent and hardworking, he was always surrounded by laughter. He loved to have a good time and played all kinds of pranks on friends and family. The only times Theo had seen him truly angry, Daniel Crisp was involved. Daniel’s treatment of Nina was a continuous issue, and once Daniel was caught stealing some of Lead’s moonshine. She sincerely hoped Lead was not involved in Daniel’s death.
Tony left his office and wandered down the hall to Wade’s tiny fingerprint cubicle. It looked like the deputy was taking inventory of his assorted powders and brushes.
“I’m looking for ideas of how we can find out if there are more than three wives.” Tony rested his back against the door frame. “I’d sure hate to stop collecting them before we have the wife.”
“If there actually is a legal one.” Wade looked up and spun a brush between his fingers. “Speaking ill of the dead isn’t the same thing as telling lies. He could have gone through a marriage service without it being legal.”
“What do you mean?” Tony felt grateful for Wade’s intelligence and insight.
“It’s been a while since you got married. Grace and I still haven’t found room for some of our wedding presents.”
“And?”
“Well, first you have to get a license. For that you need a picture ID, birth certificate, social security number and cash. Then after it’s issued, you have a month to use it and file it with the state. When you do that, you get your wedding certificate. Proof you are married.”
Tony listened carefully, wondering where Wade was headed. “So?”
“If you don’t use the license in a timely manner, it expires. If you still want to marry, you’ll have to shell out more money to get a new one. Not only that, it has to be a license for the county you’ll be married in.”
A zing of understanding pierced Tony’s brain. “So, if you never file proof there was a wedding, you are not married?”
“I think that’s the case. If Daniel had a ceremony in Park County, but never filed the paperwork, he’d be single as far as the state is concerned. He could ‘marry’ in another county pretty easily because no one in the marriage license office would recognize him as a recent customer.”
“Wow.” Tony was impressed by Wade’s theory and Daniel’s underhandedness. “Why bother?”
“Make the women happy. They think they’re married. They don’t know the truth.” Wade’s handsome face frowned.
Tony was still looking for the hidden flaw. “But to have the name changed on the driver’s license, wouldn’t it have to be filed?”
“I would think so, but, maybe somewhere there’s a clerk who will accept the license as proof. If you’re not married, why would you bother with the paperwork?”
Tony felt sorry for all the women in Daniel’s life. “Or your new husband says for you to keep your maiden name on the bank accounts and such, but you can call yourself Mrs. Crisp everywhere there isn’t a legal document involved.”
“Oh, man, no wonder he’s dead.” Wade shook his head. “Any one of them, or several acting together, could have had enough with the secrecy and pushed him, or maybe he dived into the hole to get out of the jam and broke his neck. Just because they say they didn’t know, can we absolutely believe none of them had an inkling about the others?”
Tony had no sympathy for Daniel Crisp. Only for the wives, and especially for the children. As far as Tony could tell so far, none of them were likely to inherit anything. “I guess I’ll put out a press release all over the state and Georgia, maybe North Carolina, about his death and our department looking for next of kin.”
Wade frowned. “I certainly hope there are not any more families.”
“Me, too.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Sheriff?” Flavio Weems’s voice came through the intercom on Tony’s desk.
Flavio spoke carefully. His training for the dispatch desk meant he had to maintain his calm no matter what the emergency entailed. “Mrs. Eunice Plover has died.”
Tony’s first reaction was sorrow. He enjoyed the feisty older woman. “Please tell me it’s from natural causes.”
“Doc Nash said I should call you. He said something about it didn’t seem right and asked that you come to her house.” Flavio sounded like he was reading it from a note.
“Did he say why?” Even as he asked the question Tony stood, preparing to leave.
“No, sir.”
“Find Wade, and have him meet me there.” Pulling his jacket from its hook, Tony headed to his parking bay.
Tony had known Mrs. Plover almost from the first day his family had moved to Silersville when he was a boy. On her most recent birthday, the spry older woman turned seventy-five and had invited a multitude to her party. Eunice and Jane, Tony’s mother, had been great friends for a while and then suddenly they were not. Neither of them had ever mentioned the problem in his presence.
Eunice Plover’s lovely home was a short distance out of town. As he approached, Tony stared at the large, white, brick home. The green roof slanted down to cover a wide porch, which extended across the front of the house. A curved driveway edged with a neatly trimmed small hedge connected with a straight driveway leading to a double garage with a green door. Window boxes filled with artificial greenery accented every window not shaded by the porch roof. Even from the driveway, he could see tiny, live green sprouts of some early bulb interspersed among some fake ferns. Whatever grew there had not started blooming, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were ready in a couple of weeks. Spring would arrive in a flurry. From the outside, the home looked perfectly normal.
Tony climbed from the Blazer and joined Wade in his vehicle. “You got here first. Do you know who found the body?”
“According to Flavio,” said Wade, glancing at his notebook, as if double-checking his information. “It was her next door neighbor, a Mrs. Johnson. I guess Eunice Plover watched the neighbor’s daughter most mornings until the school bus picked her up. Evidently Mrs. Plover simply did it as a favor because she, that is the mother, works the early shift at Food City. Mrs. Johnson told Flavio she called the doctor first and then nine-one-one.”
“Any idea what she actually saw?” Tony continued his study of the home’s exterior, looking for any sign it had been broken into.
“Yes. She told Flavio that she opened the door after a brief knock. I gather it was not unusual for them to knock and then just enter so she and her daughter went inside. Mrs. Johnson saw Mrs. Plover stretched out on the couch in the living room, and the neighbor started making calls when she couldn’t wake her up.”
Tony saw no one in the area. “Where is Mrs. Johnson now?”
“She took her daughter to another neighbor’s home and explained the situation. Once her daughter had a place to wait for the bus, Mrs. Johnson left for work.” Wade glanced up. “I called the manager at Food City. He said Mrs. Johnson arrived on time and is at her register like she’s supposed to be.”
Tony couldn’t fault the woman for her behavior. An elderly neighbor passing away was a tragedy, but the mother couldn’t afford to miss work. Tony happened to know the manager at the grocery store. The man ran a tight ship, and not showing up could cost the woman her job.
Like Nina’s home, the Plover house perched on a hill with a beautiful view of the Smoky Mountains from the front porch. It was valuable land, and the house was fairly new and in good condition. Her husband had died only a few years earlier. Without any recent information, Tony assumed he wasn’t missed by his widow. It was well known that Mr. Plover had been a bully at home even though he’d been a popular man in the business community.
The double-faceted Mr. Plover had been a local man who made good. He was raised in poverty but he’d been ambitious, so he married into money and beauty and used both to further his career. He had commuted from Silersville to Knoxville.
There had been rumors over the years that his former business partner and Mrs. Plover had been lovers quite a few years prior. No one knew for sure. There had also been rumors that some of his business deals had been shady. If something had happened to her, could it be that after all this time, someone thought she could link them to something personally damaging? It seemed unlikely.
Tony glanced at the front porch again and saw Doc Nash waiting there for him in the open doorway. Wade and Tony climbed out of the car and walked up to meet the habitually cranky doctor. “You called. What do you know?”
Doc Nash massaged the back of his neck and gave Tony the “I’m not sure of anything” look. “She wasn’t my patient but as far as I can tell, Mrs. Plover had no particular illnesses, or chronic conditions or any other reason I’m aware of that she should be dead today.”
Tony listened carefully to the doctor’s words and what he wasn’t saying. “People, especially not young ones, die all the time of no particular reason. Seventy-five isn’t quite young, but it’s not as old as it used to sound.” Tony didn’t doubt the doctor’s instincts for an instant. He wanted to, though. He didn’t want this to be a homicide, and he couldn’t abide the idea of suicide. “So, what do you think killed her?”
“I’m guessing some form of poisoning.” Doc Nash frowned, clearly unwilling to make an educated guess.
Tony could count on one hand the number of times the doctor had appeared so uncertain about his statements. “Poisoning? That’s not very specific. Drinking too much moonshine can poison you.”
Doc Nash did smile at that comment. “That’s true. I didn’t see anything like a container, though.”
“Okay, so what do you want us to do?” Tony would follow the doctor’s lead. Doc Nash was irritable, overworked and absolutely without imagination. Facts were his friends, and he wouldn’t be having this discussion with Tony if he wasn’t convinced it was necessary.
“We need to send the body out for a more in-depth autopsy than I can do. I especially want a specialized toxicology report.” Doc Nash waved one skinny arm toward the body. “Look at her. She looks like she’s been very sick for a long time, but she hasn’t been, at least not to my knowledge anyway. Yesterday I saw her out and about, walking down the sidewalk, and she seemed fine. Her color was good and healthy, and I couldn’t help but notice she still moved like a much younger woman. Now look at her. I’d say her skin’s gone a bit yellow.”
“What poisons do you want them to check for?” Tony knew enough about toxicology to know that one test would not find every possible poison. He also knew that the more tests they did, the more expensive it would be. He didn’t want to waste the department’s money if the test wasn’t necessary, and he didn’t want to save money if it would let a killer run loose.
“That’s an excellent question.” Doc rubbed the side of his nose again. “I’m hoping when you and Wade search the house, you’ll be able to find some suggestion of how poison was administered, if indeed she was poisoned.”
“If you truly believe she died of foul play, we need to leave her in place while we do an investigation.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll go back to my office. There’s nothing for me to do here.” The doctor scuttled away. “She’s as dead now as she will be later.”
Tony watched Wade carrying his camera and fingerprint case across the yard. In response to Wade’s questioning expression, he said, “I’ll take the pictures while you do your fingerprint thing.”
The serious expression on Wade’s handsome face grew sterner. “Who would kill such a nice old lady? And why?”
Tony wondered the same thing. “I have no idea. I’m hoping the doctor is wrong.”
As Tony and Wade made their way into the house, Tony saw nothing out of place or obviously disturbed. The well-maintained Mrs. Plover was stretched out on the sofa, but she did not look
like she was sleeping, or had died in her sleep. Moments later, Wade vanished and Tony heard him being sick. Tony thought Eunice didn’t look over sixty-five. Her hair was carefully colored a soft brown and her skin was firm for a woman of her age. As the doctor had observed, now her skin did have a yellow undertone.
Minor twisting of her fingers indicated some arthritis but not a severe case. The eyeglasses still perched on her nose looked like simple magnification glasses and not prescription.
A book open to almost its middle rested on the coffee table next to a half empty cup of tea. Tony could see the tea bag in the bottom of the cup. He saw no obvious signs of violence. Only the body itself did not look restful. He understood why the doctor was concerned about the cause of death. “Wade, we need to find out if she’s complained to her friends about feeling ill.”
“That should be easy enough.” Wade had returned and was busy with his brush and powders. He looked up from his fingerprint kit. “They should all be gathering together soon. It’s almost lunchtime at the senior center.”
Tony very carefully placed the cup and its contents into a bag and filled out the required details for evidence. He sealed the bag. He’d make sure to keep it sitting upright in a box on its way to the laboratory for analysis. He went outside to see if there was a clear view to any of the neighbors’ homes.
Standing at the top of Mrs. Plover’s driveway, Tony could easily see the front doors of four houses, and six to some degree. He wondered how she got along with her neighbors. He also wondered if he should have called in the TBI. They’d barely left the county after the scene they’d worked at Nina’s home. The TBI had spent a lot of time in his county in recent months, supplying the equipment, manpower and the expertise his small department lacked.
Rightly or wrongly, Tony decided his department could handle this case without outside assistance, except for the autopsy. While Wade was continuing with his fingerprint search, Tony decided to visit the neighbors. He called for Deputy Mike Ott to join him, and it took only a few minutes for him to arrive.
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